Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Last Friday, that is. It was dark and stormy all day. In the morning there were dark clouds in lines across the sky, the bottoms of the clouds heavy and blue-grey and the tops an odd sort of grey-yellow. The effect was of windrows of clouds piled on top of each other, like bolsters, all moving silently southward together.

Several times during the morning the 'Welcome' sign beside the Studio door banged against the wall, something it only does when the wind gusts from the north. Of course, Kip and I jumped each time. It was peaceful inside, but obviously not outside.

During the afternoon, I looked out and was surprised to see how how dark it was, and how violently the trees above the Marsh were swaying. No sooner had I said to myself, 'wow, the wind is really whipping those trees around' than I was startled to see the top half of a dead Balsam Fir flying through the air and landing in my Crabapple Garden. By sheer luck, it missed the Crabapple trees and fell away from the truck. It could easily have landed on my truck. This was a tree I had meant to cut it down all summer, but who has time for these things.

Here's the tree. Notice the tall stump to the left in the picture. These trees are brittle, and it isn't the wind blowing at them that breaks them, it is the wind stopping, and the tree snapping back, that causes them to break.

The part lying on my flower bed is about 30' long.

Walking out to get the newspaper, I saw that the large Spruce that has stood at the corner for so long was gone, too.

It was about 40' high, I think, and about 2' through at the base. I thought it was healthy, but obviously not! Luckily it too, fell away from trouble. It more or less went into the Marsh and not over the driveway!

The next day I checked my trails and was surprised and relieved to see that not only were there no healthy trees down, the few dead ones that had crashed had not done so over my trail. This of course is in direct violation of the Law of Nature that states that if a tree falls in the woods and there is nobody to see it, it will fall across your trail.

A little clearing, with my trusty axe and saw, soon cleaned up the small tree in the flowerbed. The Powers of Rot will have to look after the others. I feel very lucky to have had so little damage from such a storm.

Know and Grow:

The Monarch Page

Native Plant Events

Check out some of the links below for events, news, and possible sources of native plants in the Ottawa Valley!

(if you know of a local native-plant-related event or a source you'd like to see listed here, please get in touch.)

Native Plants sale at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden. Probably June 2 in 2018, starting at 10am. Meet other native plant lovers, talk to knowledgeable gardeners, buy new native plants for your garden. Check out their website, www.ofnc.ca/fletcher.php, or find them on Facebook.

Events at Pine Ridge

Native Plants Sale: May 20, 2018, 10am to 4pm. Rain or shine! Small potted native plants, including ferns, garden art, discussions, tour, tea-in-the-tent. Come visit and learn more about native plants and enjoy a day at Pine Ridge!

Fern Day - July 22, 2018. A day of all things Fern! Garden tour (almost all native Ottawa Valley ferns), fern art, fern snacks, tea... Please email me if you would like to come!